'Truth Hammer' on Serious Eats

The velvet bag where the Truth Hammer is kept. Red, naturally. Sometimes the mere threat of overwhelming power is more effective than the indiscriminate use thereof. This holds for the Truth Hammer, as well. Therefore, I'm only glancing in the general direction of this trusty Slice device as I write. The Truth Hammer will remain in its velvet bag as I point out the words of Village Voice guest blogger Haily Eber (my emphasis): The Artichoke Slice at Artichoke Basille's Pizza & Brewery was recently featured in Time Out's "100 Best..things we ate and drank this year" and hailed... More

Say wha, Time Out New York? It's hammer time! It's that time of year. The annual year-end round-ups are coming fast and furious. (Don't worry, homeslices, I'm workin' on them myself.) Today, Time Out New York drops its lists. For the most part, they're pretty solid. But I just had to reach in to the ol' Slice Bag o' Tricks and pull out the rusty but trusty Truth Hammer. See that nonsense above? The weekly magazine is naming Artichoke Basille's signature artichoke slice a "new classic." Please. We love the Artichoke regular and square slices, even if they are... More

New York Times As if things weren't confusing enough when it comes to the name Ray's and the world of pizza. The New York Times chronicles the move of Ray's Real Pizza, once a Times Square pizzeria whose customers included (at some time or other) Alec Baldwin, Puff Daddy Diddy Dude, and Dom DeLuise. The story mostly details how the former Times Square location attracted celebs and how the new Hazlet digs are devoid of famous eaters: "The Russo brothers keep a camera under the counter just in case a celebrity happens to stumble in. Some customers claim they’ve... More

Keith Wagstaff of the Feedbag blog has an interview with Mathieu Palombino, the Belgian-born chef-owner of Motorino in Williamsburg. We wrote about the pizza at Motorino on Tuesday, and the Feedbag's piece is a nice complement to the tasting intel. Snip: What does it take to make good pizza? Pizza is always good, even when it’s bad. Its never something you will spit out of your mouth, even if it’s not done properly. What makes a pizza good is the quality of the ingredients. It’s a very simple thing. It’s just a piece of dough with just a few... More

On Wednesday, we had to bring out the truth hammer and give Vice magazine a knock to the skull with it for some wack stuff they'd written in their NYC pizza guide. Today, friend of Slice Scott "Pizza Tour" Wiener writes with this follow up: They say Grimaldi's has been one of the best for 1,000,000 years? I understand hyperbole, but it's a common misconception that the spot is one of the oldest in the city. It opened in 1990. Nothing to get all worked up about, but the year puts things into perspective. I was watching Teenage Mutant... More

Best-of lists are opinions, and opinions are like assholes—everybody's got one. Am I right? But there's opinion and then there's fact. Sometimes folks come down with some wack stuff that mixes opinion and so-called fact, getting us all to the point where we don't know what to believe. That's when Slice pulls out the truth hammer and gives someone a knock on the skull with it. Witness Vice magazine's statement about Lee's Tavern from that pizza list we mentioned yesterday: "Their coal-oven pizzas surpass the vaunted Lombardi’s and just about every other place we’ve tried." Let's break it down.... More